Dragon
Dragons are an incredibly ancient race whose forefathers lived many thousands of years before Elves or Men first set foot in the Old World. Today they are few in number compared to times of old, when the air was full of soaring Dragons and the deep cries of Cold Drakes as they tussled for supremacy of the primaeval skies. Those that remain are reclusive creatures which mostly spend their time asleep in dark holes deep beneath the mountains. Dragons are a diverse species and apt to display enormous variation in colour and abilities. These differences do not depend on a Dragon's breeding, for the father of all Dragons was the fabled Kalgalanos the Black, and his spawn were red, golden, silver, white, blue and all the colours under the sun. Different coloured Dragons have different metabolisms. Red or Fire Dragons breathe roaring flame, Green Dragons belch corrosive fumes, while Blue Dragons spit lightning bolts. A Dragon's size is proportional to its age. They continue to grow throughout their life, and Dragons of any colour may reach huge proportions if they live for long enough. Few Dragons today can approach the size of Kalgalanos the Black, whose vast scaly body was bigger than a ship and whose smoke shrouded head was larger than a house. Because of this variation in size three profiles are included for Dragons, including the larger and more powerful but slightly slower Great and Emperor Dragons. Stats Special rules * Terror: Dragons are huge and frightening monsters that cause terror as described in the Psychology section of the Warhammer rulebook. Remember that creatures which cause terror automatically cause fear as well. * Fly: Dragons have wings and can fly up to 24" as described in the Warhammer rulebook. * Scaly skin: Dragons have extremely hard scales which act like armour, protecting them from attack. A Dragon therefore has an armour saving throw of 4 or more on a D6. However, because dragonscale is so extraordinarily hard, the Dragon's save is not modified by the usual saving throw modifier for Strength. Regardless of the Strength of the attack, a Dragon will always have the same save. Only if the attack discounts saves altogether is the save ignored. Dragon's breath Dragons breathe a deadly flame, gas or lightning discharge. The type of breath depends on the colour of the Dragon, although there are other colours, and even those described here can vary tremendously. For example, Fire Dragons can be red, orange, or brazen. A Dragon has one of the following breath attacks. Except where noted otherwise, breath attacks are all worked out the same way. Take the teardrop-shaped flame template and place it with the broad end over your target and the narrow end at the Dragon's mouth. Any model lying under the template area is hit on a D6 score of a 4 or more. Dragons breathe in the shooting phase. Dragons fighting hand-to-hand can continue to breathe in the shooting phase, but must direct their attacks against the unit they are fighting. Models removed as a result of breath casualties in the shooting phase are not counted towards the combat result - the effects of the attack itself being considered destructive enough without making life any harder for the enemy. * White dragons breathe a freezing chill mist so cold that enemies are numbed and frozen. Any frozen model suffers 1 wound on the D6 roll of a 6 regardless of its Toughness with no saving throws for armour. Any unit which is hit by a freezing chill is automatically frozen to the spot. A frozen unit may fight if attacked but will require 6's to hit, otherwise it may not do anything else until it thaws out. Frozen units are automatically frozen for 1 turn and subsequently must test to see whether they thaw out at the beginning of the player's following turns. Units frozen by a Dragon require a D6 roll of 2+ to thaw out. * Black Dragons breathe thick oily smoke which can overwhelm and choke an enemy. Each model hit by the oily smoke suffers a number of wounds equivalent to D6 minus the target's Toughness. No armour save is allowed for armour. Against a Man or Elf with a Toughness of 3, for example, dice rolls of 4 will inflict 1 wound, 5 inflicts 2 wounds and 6 causes 3 wounds. Foes with a Toughness of 3 who can sustain only 1 wound are therefore slain automatically on the roll of 4 or more. Black Dragons are extremely useful for disposing of enemies with relatively low Toughness but several wounds. * Red or Fire Dragons breathe flames. Each enemy hit suffers a Strength 4 hit. Damage and saving throws are worked out normally. In addition, the Dragon causes extra damage on targets which burn easily such as Treemen and Mummies. * Green Dragons belch corrosive green fumes. These acrid clouds dissolve skin and irritate eyes. Any model hit suffers a Strength 4 hit with no saving throws for armour. In addition a unit attacked by corrosive fumes may be forced to give ground before the choking clouds. The unit takes a Leadership test the same way as for fear or other psychology test (2D6 against its Leadership characteristic - see the Psychology section of the main rulebook for details). If this test is passed the unit holds its ground. If the unit fails it is moved directly away from the attack by D6". This does not affect the unit's move next turn. * Blue Dragons generate an electric charge which they spit out in the form of arcing forks of lightning. This is not worked out using the flame template but as follows. The lightning has an initial range of 12" - nominate a single enemy model within range as the target. The target is hit on the D6 roll of 4, 5 or 6. If the target is hit then the lightning bolt will leap to a model touching the original target on the roll of a 4, 5 or 6. If this target is hit the lightning bolt leaps to the next model on the roll of a 4, 5 or 6 and so on. The lightning bolts keep leaping and striking a new target so long as you continue to roll a 4 or more. A lightning bolt may leap more than 12" range in total as a result. As soon as you roll 3 or less the lightning bolt earths to the ground and there is no further effect. The Dragon can direct the bolt to some extent by choosing where the bolt leaps to in cases where there is a choice. Any model struck by lightning suffers a Strength 6 hit from a Dragon, with damage and armour saving throws as normal. Category:Monsters